(Sffp Barren Srrord
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BIGNALL JONES, Editor
Member North Carolina Press Association
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November 8 Vote Subjects
In addition to two bond
authorizations - $300,000,000
highway bonds and $230,000,000
clean water bonds-North Carolina
voters will on November 8
make their wishes known on five
Constitutional Amendments.
The Succession Amendment was
reviewed in this space last week.
The other four Constitutional
Amendments are as follows:
Homestead Exemption —The
proposed amendment would
permit a surviving spouse of
either sex to receive the benefit
of the homestead exemption,
provided there are no minor
children. Presently, a homestead
left to a widow is exempt
from the debts of her husband
and she is entitled to receive the
rents and profits fi om the homestead
while she is a widow. The
Constitution presently requires
the signature and acknowledgement
of a wife on a deed
transferring a homestead. The
amendment would extend to a
husband or widower the same
benefits that are presently
extended to a wife or widow.
Insurance-The proposed
amendment" would allow every
person the right to insure his or
her life for the benefit of his or
her spouse or children or both.
Presently the Constitution permits
a husband to insure his life
for the benefit of his wife or
children and that proceeds of the
insurance are not subject to
claims of creditors of the
husband or his estate. The
amendment extends to a wife
the same benefits presently
extended to a husband.
Joint Ownership of Electric
Generation Facilities-The proposed
amendment would add a
new section authorizing municipalities
owning electric systems
and joint agencies of such
municipalities to issue revenue
bonds to finance the cost of
electric generation and transmission
facilities owned jointly
with private corporations or associations
who generate power
in this State or continguous
State. The General Assembly
heretofore had given to municipalities
the authority to own
electric generation facilities
jointly with each other. The
amendment is necessary for
them to own and operate the
facilities jointly with private
power companies and electric
membership associations.
..Balanced Budget—The proposed
amendment is to insure
the continuation of a balanced
budget. This is an addition to the
Constitution and basically incorporates
the balanced budget
concepts presently found in the
General Statutes.
Bing Crosby
The untimely death of Bing
Crosby on a golf course in Spain
brought a note of sadness to
people everywhere and especially
to those approaching or
who have passed three score and
ten. They, like Bing, were born
in the horse and buggy age and
knew and loved songs sung with
a softness and beat that made
Bing Crosby the most popular
song singer in all history if
judged by the number of records
sold. Sales of his records
exceeded more than 300 million
in the span of 50 years that
marked his radio, stage and
movie appearances.
Fortunately the mellow, soft
baritone voice and low-key
personality of Bing Crosby will
long live in the records he made
and in the memory of millions
who remember the gentleness of
his manner, wholesomeness of
his life and devotion to his
family.
Letter To The Editor
Pre-School Change Needed
To The Editor:
I read with great interest
the article on the Warren
County School Board deliberations
concerning personnel
questions (Record, October
13). Superintendent
Peeler and the Board are to
be applauded for their
continuing efforts to better
the educational system in
our county. A sound education
system is of tremendous
importance to everyone in
the county.
As efforts to improve the
school system continue it
muft be remembered that
tha school system does not
operate in a vacuum. Any
discussion of holding teachers
or even the school
system responsible for student
failures must also take
into account other factors
which influence the students
outcome. First of all note
murit be taken of the
compelling evidence which
indicates that the health
habits, nutrition and medical
care of the pregnant
mother as well as the care of
the infant can greatly
influence a child's mental
and physical development.
No matter what improvements
are made in the
schools we cannot expect a
very high degree of success
in preparing students for
useful lives unless changes
are also made which
improve the health and
social factors which shape a
child before school age.
H. L. Mencken once said
something to the effect that
"for every complex problem
there is a simple solutionalmost
always wrong." The
tendancy of most of us
whatever our political persuasion,
race or social class
is to gravitate towards
simple solutions which allow
us to blame a particular
group or individual for our
problems. Our struggle with
problems of any kind must
take into account the large
number of factors which
bring about any problem in
society.
The efforts to better
prepare our children for a
productive life cannot be
limited to an improvement
in our schools. Nor can such
efforts be successful if left to
the efforts of a few
dedicated public servants.
We can move rapidly
towards the goal of developing
better educated young
men and women only
through a broad-based community
effort which struggles
with the multitude of
social, health and economic
factors which can prevent
children from reaching their
full potential.
DENNIS W. RETZLAFF
Health Educator, Warren
County Health Department
Members of John Graham's National Honor Society are, first row (left to Hooker. Third row, Ronnie Lynch, Edith Rod well, Jason Young, Lisa
right) Patricia Jones, Lorretta Bullock, Saundra Groom, Penny Hudgins, Bobbitt, Mrs. Cora Hawkins, advisor, and Kathy Harp. Inset: Shaunielle
Gale Murray, Sheryl Avcock and Pam Thompson. Second row, W. E. Plummer. (Staff Photo)
Terry, principal, Michael Ross, Patricia Richards, Melissa Exum, Mary
Mostly Personal
Letters: A Happy By-Product Of Column
By BIGNALL JONES
One of the pleasant byproducts
of writing this
column is the letters I
receive from persons as a
result of something thatr
they have read here and
upon which they wish to
contribute. The Turner
articles have been very
productive in this respect.
Several weeks ago Miss
Nannie T. White of 3141
Columbianna Road, South
mingham, Ala., wrote requesting
a copy of The
Warren Record. Last week
she wrote to me thanking
me for the papers. Actually,
she asked me to thank the
Lions Club for sending the
paper to her. During the
copy of The Warren Record
Miss White requested,
through error, we stamped
As Others See It
Canal Time Is Running Out
By VERMONT ROYSTER
In The Wall Street Journal
CHAPEL HILL—It was a long time
ago-back in December 1940, a year
before Pearl Harbor-that I was called
up to be a temporary naval officer, and
my first duty station was on an old
World War I destroyer in the Panama
Canal Zone. I stayed there for 18
months.
Panama was a pleasant duty station
if you were an American, civilian or
military, even after Pearl Harbor. On
that famous December 7th there was a
flurry of excitement (I was the lone
duty officer aboard the USS J. Fred
Talbott that afternoon) and much
rushing to-and-fro in the Canal as we
went searching for imagined Japanese
naval forces, but things soon settled
down to a routine.
There we Americans, civilian and
military, had our own housing, our own
swimming pools, tennis courts, movie
theaters and shops. The cost of all these
things was nominal since they were
tax-free and subsidized, which was
very nice for a young man on an
ensign's pay.
Things weren't quite so pleasant for a
Panamanian. All these amenities were
off-limits to the Panamanians, many of
whom lived in near poverty. If a
Panamanian did work for the Canal, he
got lower wages than his American
counterpart and had none of the privileges.
He was also constantly reminded
of his lower status by such things as
separate toilets and separate drinking
fountains, marked 'gold" for Americans,
"Silver" for Panamanians
So I have no trouble understanding
the long years of resentment of the
Panamanians at their second-class
status in their own country and their
years of agitation to get the status of
the Canal changed.
Last summer I went through the
Canal again, this time on a freighter,
and in eight hours we cut off days of
steaming that would have been
required to go around the Horn. This
was a reminder of the importance the
Canal still holds for American trade
and defense.
So I have no trouble understanding
why some people fear any move to
relax our control of the Canal, as would
happen by the year 2000 under the
proposed treaty.
And it is the clash of these emotions,
resentment on one side and fear on the
other, that makes calm discussion of
this treaty so difficult. In both the
United States and in Panama there are
groups angered by the treaty terms,
each for a different reason. Resentful
Panamanians want an immediate end
to U. S. extraterritorial status. Fearful
Americans would never end U. S.
control of the Canal.
I must say that I share some of the
uneasiness about the future of the
Canal after the year 2000. Panama is a
politically volatile country. There is
much anti-Americanism, so there is
always the possibility that once control
passes to Panama this could be
concerted into anti-American action.
There are also some provisions in the
treaty which I wish were different. I
would prefer not to yield our unilateral
right to build another canal elsewhere,
and I would be happier if our right to
defend the Canal after the year 2000
were spelled out more clearly.
All the same, the world has changed
much since the days of World War II,
and with it not only the role of the Canal
itself but also, inevitably, the
relationship between the U. S. and
Panama. That old relationship, with all
its overtones of colonialism, simply
could not be long maintained.
The change includes our military
role. In that long ago war the Canal was
a major military base, permitting us to
shift our sea forces quickly from one
ocean to another.
For that purpose the Canal is still
important but much less so. On last
summer's transit we saw not a single
U. S. warship. There is no longer a
submarine base on the Atlantic side.
The navy docks at the Pacific entrance
were bare and forlorn. Only secondary
navy vessels even use it for transit; it's
too small for today's capital ships,
carriers and the big submarines.
Merchant ship use of the Canal is also
declining. Where it used to operate 24
hours a day, transits are now largely
confined to daytime. The big tankers
and the new big container ships must
follow other routes. By the year 2000
the Canal's role will surely be further
diminished.
So much of the fear about loss of
control is based on memories of the
Canal as it was, not as it is or will be.
The fear also overlooks the fact that
Panama has a greater interest than we
do in maintaining the viability of the
Canal. For us it is at most one adjunct
to commerce and defense. For Panama
the Canal is vital; for it, the closing of
the Canal would be a disaster.
These are practical considerations to
mitigate fears about what might
happen a quarter of a century hence.
But these are not the reasons that have
pushed four presidents into negotiating
a slow, orderly transfer of control.
The hard truth is that in the modern
world time is running out on the kind of
foreign power position the U. S. has
held in Panama. It is not true, as some
critics of the treaty claim, that the
Panamanian drive to change things is
something newly stirred up by leftist
groups or by President Torrijos. To my
knowledge, resentment of the American
position goes back at least nearly
40 years to the election of President
Arias in June 1940. In the turbulent
years since, every political leader has
been forced to agitate for a change in
the U. S.-Panama relationship.
They could hardly do otherwise. Not
only were the Panamanians secondclass
citizens in their own country but
the country itself was cut in half; until
recently there was no way to get from
one part to the other except by small
boat. To expect people not to resent
that is to expect too much, especially
since - I am sorry to say - we
Americans were at best unfeeling and
at worst arrogant toward the people of
this little country.
Perhaps we might now make better
arrangements if years ago we had done
things differently. But we didn't. Since
we didn't, it strikes me we have done
well to work out an agreement for a
gradual and orderly transition.
The writer, now living in Chapel Hill,
is a former editor of the Wall Street
Journal.
copies going to Warren
General Hospital twice. The
stamped message conveyed
the information that the
paper was being donated to
Warren General Hospital by
Past Presidents of the
Warren Lions Club. Rather
than waste the papers we
placed them on our weekly
file. When Miss White's
letter was received, it was
turned over to the person
who looks after the mailing
list, who mailed it without
noticing that it had been
hand-stamped.
When Miss White asked
me to thank the Lions for
her, as she did not know
them, it became obvious
how the error occurred. Her
other comments I found of
much interest, and I think
they will also be of interest
to others who may read this
column. Her letter, under
date of Thursday, Oct. 13,
follows:
Dear Mr. Jones:
Since I do not know the
names of the members of
the LiotiS'Club I am sending
you my letter of appreciation
to them for being kind
enough to send me the back
numbers about my greatgreat-grandfather,
Gov.
James Turner. We here in
Alabama, my brother's and
sister's children, who look
after me, and I, are very
proud of our North Carolina
and Virginia background.
I was pleased to see that
you published my letter and
have decided to tell you
more that has come to my
mind about Gov. Turner's
family. I looked him up in
a history I found in the Library
in Warrenton and
found that he was married
twice. I believe my mother's
grandfather, Thomas Turner,
was a son of his second
" marriage, and Buck Baskervill
(the late W. R.
Baskervill-bj) descended
from his first wife.
My mother, was Frances
Henderson, called Fanny,
told me an interesting story,
among many about her
childhood at the lovely old
Henderson Home, Ashland.
She was 10 years old when
the War closed, had gone to
boarding school at Dr.
Field's first, then to a girl's
school run by her greatuncle,
Daniel Turner. They
had heard Sherman's Army
was coming through so her
Uncle Daniel let the girls go
down to a picket fence and
watch for it. The Yankee
officers sent guards ahead
to prevent any damage
being done. Mother saw the
famous Army pass. She said
the soldiers were eight
abreast and it took them
over an hour to pass. They
did no damage. She told us
so many interesting things
about slavery and the War.
I have started a book
about my 97 years of living.
All the way my health has
been good and I am still
remarkably well for my
age. If I hadn't broken my
hip 14 years ago. I wouldn't
be confined to a wheel chair
here in this nursing home. I
still get up and down myself
but cannot walk without the
walker. Thanks for the
papers.
MISS NANNIE T. WHITE
Miss White is a cousin of
Charles M. White. Ill, of
Warrenton and was responsible
for the condensation of
the Library of Capt. Wallace
M. White.
FUNNYSIDE
I
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r
Kic4\oOrO
"They kept bothering me, so 1 gave them something to do "
PHILIP D. MEADOR, JR.. M.D.
ANNOUNCES THE OPENING OF HIS OFFICE
FOR THE PRACTICE OF
DERMATOLOGY
MEDICAL SERVICES BUILDING
MARIA PARHAM HOSPITAL
RUIN CRIIK ROAD
HKNOIRSON, NC 17B36
OPPIC* HoilMi TBLCPHONIi
APPOINTMENT «•«•)